Journal of Digital Learning: Volume 1, 2020

JOURNAL OF DIGITAL LEARNING VOLUME 1, 2020

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LEARNING

CONTRIBUTORS 2

05.

BEN BARNES, LOWER SIXTH 06.

AARIC TIMMS, LOWER SIXTH 07.

SAMI HAROON, FIFTH FORM 08.

ELDON CRAVEN, REMOVE FORM 09.

CALLUM WARD, REMOVE FORM 11.

RAHUL THAKRAR, FOURTH FORM 13.

KEVIN XU, FOURTH FORM 14.

BEN COOK, FOURTH FORM

P R E FA C E The British Computer Society warns that the UK

elements of technology as it permeates their lives. We

currently faces a major IT skills deficit and the pace of

asked them the question How might the use of Artificial

digital change is accelerating faster than ever. They

Intelligence technologies help you in your education?

say that education is the power tool we must use to

Their responses were both perceptive and illuminating,

promote innovation and sustain the country’s future

and we have included some of their answers, which we

in the industry.

hope you will enjoy reading. It is insights such as these

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to make our

that can help shape the future direction of our school.

lives better, more interesting and more fulfilled. It also

The Bedford School Journal of Digital Learning

poses threats that we don’t even fully understand yet.

will become a regular publication of papers written

As tech companies develop AI machines, we should

by pupils to reflect on digital technologies and how

contemplate the ethics of their advances.

they impact our world. We congratulate those pupils

The boys at Bedford School are deep thinkers and

whose papers appear in this journal.

are increasingly aware of the positive and the negative

E D I T E D B Y D R A L B I N W A L L A C E , D I R E C T O R O F D I G I TA L L E A R N I N G

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FLOREAT

HOW MIGHT THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES HELP ME IN MY EDUCATION? BEN BARNES, LOWER SIXTH

In spite of the report published by the Institute for the Future (IFTF)1 which predicted that 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 have not yet been invented, I maintain my view that some professions, for example that of a barrister, are protected from the threat of replacement that Artificial Intelligence and modern technology pose. Furthermore, I believe that the traditional ‘school teacher’ is similarly irreplaceable, as the teacher’s role is not limited to merely helping students to acquire knowledge, but also to foster competence, virtue and emotional intelligence: lessons I feel can only be learnt through physical interaction with other human beings. Artificial Intelligence - namely the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages2 - would struggle with such a task. Yet in terms of the purely knowledge-acquiring educative function, I am proposing that AI could be used by teachers as an additional learning supplement, and I am going to use my hypothetical AI creation known as Poly to explain.

In the iGCSE exam for modern foreign languages, students are tested on their ability to engage in an unscripted conversation in, for example, French. In order to prepare for such an exam, one must practice having a dialogue with an already fluent speaker of the French language - which is where several problems arise. Firstly, the number of Francophones is sparse; the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that there are only 123,000 French nationals in the UK. If a French teacher runs a class of 20 pupils, the likelihood of everyone getting a 15-minute one-on-one practice with their teacher is slim. As a result, students may resort to what is currently the only other available option - getting a private tutor. Not only is such

tutoring expensive - averaging at about £20 per hour - but it can also be very uncomfortable, particularly for nervous pupils. The intensity of a one-on-one session, alongside the embarrassment and pride-faltering experience of not knowing some rudimentary piece of knowledge, leads to some students being deterred from private tutors.

Furthermore, the tutors rarely undergo formal DBS checks (Disclosure and Barring Service), potentially posing risks.

In my view, the solution to this problem at hand rests in POLY. Poly (feminine) is a polyglot, a term which derives from the Greek poluglōttos (meaning ‘many tongues’ from polu- ‘many’ + glōtta ‘tongue’), and therefore she is an AI programmed to know, use, and speak in multiple languages. Using similar decision-making programming to that of the record breaking five-time winner of the Loebner Prize Turing Test chatbot, Mitsuku, Poly would be able to engage in a conversation with students in any required language. The speech recognition and response function uses the design in Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, or Samsung’s Bixby, and would subsequently be relatively inexpensive; unlike private tutors. Furthermore, not only is Poly safer as she does not require DBS checks, but she is also entirely non-judgemental towards her students ensuring that anxious or self-conscious teens would not be deterred. Furthermore, unlike a school teacher or private tutor, students would be able to practice speaking in foreign languages anywhere they like - whether it be at home, at school, or on holiday. Shaped like the Amazon Echo Dot, Poly fits neatly into the blazer pocket: I have created a wireless, portable, rechargeable piece of technology that I believe you should invest your faith into. Do so, and watch the number of polyglots grow.

References: 1 Emerging Technologies' Impact of Society & Work in 2030, Dell Technologies, 2017 2 ‘Artificial Intelligence’, The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, 200

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HOW MIGHT THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES HELP ME IN MY EDUCATION? AARIC TIMMS, LOWER SIXTH

As another emerging technology in the form of artificial intelligence arises in the education industry, it may be the beginning of a change in how technology will be used to teach me.

From pre-school to when you graduate from university, one of the main ways in which Artificial Intelligence may help in my education is the ability to personalize my learning. Artificial intelligence will introduce a new level of personalization that is impossible for teachers who must manage a class consisting of 25 students at any one time, not knowing if the students fully understands the topic covered in class, resulting in missed concepts and making it challenging for us to catch up later on. Therefore, artificial intelligence may be able to fill in the gaps, collecting resources from professionals and suitable websites to give me a better understanding of the materials I find challenging.

Furthermore, a class consisting of 25 students all have a different learning speeds and styles. Faster learners may have a longer attention span and be more engaged in the lessons, whereas pupils who learn more slowly may get left behind, feeling that they are not good enough to be within the same class. This occurs as the demand for education is increasing, and there are more students staying on at school. Teachers may find it hard to be able to find a constant pace that will work for all students and teachers knows that there is no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ approach to teaching. In the near future, Artificial Intelligence may be able to set up

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the correct pace for individual learners. Individual programs will be able to help me research a topic I like in more depth and at a comfortable speed with no sense of being overwhelmed or frustrated.

Moreover, we will have the ability to learn from anywhere, anytime around the world using Artificial Intelligence software. Consequently, if I was ill or travelling somewhere for holidays, I would be able to stay up to date with help from Artificial Intelligences. With this type of help, students such as myself will be able to do further research out of class, expanding our knowledge and coming up with a series of questions to ask teachers at the start of each lesson.

In addition, trial and error is a crucial part of learning. However, I may see this as failure and may then start to lose interest in the subject. Artificial Intelligence could offer a way for me to experiment and learn in a judgement-free environment.

Artificial Intelligence will also be a good way to make trial and error less intimidating, because Artificial Intelligence programs themselves will have to learn by trial and error to give me a personalized learning experience.

In conclusion, Artificial Intelligence may seem to be a futuristic invention. However, we are already currently using it in our everyday lives. Artificial Intelligence in education will help me personalize my learning making it easier for me to understand each topic within classes.

HOW MIGHT THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES HELP YOU IN YOUR EDUCATION? SAMI HAROON, FIFTH FORM

If one were to consult a variety of sources in search of the phrase "Artificial Intelligence", they would typically be able to discern a consensus: Artificial Intelligence is defined by the ability of programs to function in a similar way to humans.

The respective ideas of "emotional understanding" and “the mind” complement each other and the conflation of the two is what many perceive to form the true basis of learning, teaching, and understanding of knowledge; such people include Socrates whose proposition of “Socratic Methods” promotes understanding and dialogue of responses in education.

A mind is the instantiation of intelligence and thus “non-animal intelligence agents” constitute minds. (Ziesche, 2019)[1] However, although robots can possess minds, the “Semantic Pointer Theory” essentially renders them incompetent at using it to feel emotions and hence to have emotional understanding. (Thagard, 2017)[2] This lack of emotion in robots exacerbates their much inferior ability - relative to that of humans - to spontaneously assess situations and hence reach circumstantial conclusions. This effectively means that robots simply can’t fully assess and self-adjust in response to change in order to study or to teach - certainly not as much as a human would be able to.

Furthermore, our - the UK’s - own government opines that to have at least a “good” system of studying and teaching, misconceptions should be identified with direct feedback and that [they] should “adapt as necessary”. (Ofsted, 2019)[3] Therefore, without this empathy and reason - and consequently without the emotional understanding and hence adaptability to external change

- is it actually possible for a robot to actively study, teach or to be taught science (or other data), and hence to be an effective “teacher”?

However, programs are being developed which are practical manifestations of a robot’s potential to be both didactic and autodidactic. Elias the Robot has been introduced to teach at a primary school in Finland and can “understand students’ requirements [and skill levels]” and consequently “adjust accordingly”. Elias also “gives feedback...about a student’s problems.” (Reuters, 2018). These attributes satisfy Ofsted’s criteria for “good” teaching.

Additionally, Artif icial Intelligence-based learning platforms are ubiquitous in the study of modern foreign languages. For example, Memrise is a subscription-based web-platform which evinces the “spaced-learning effect” by presenting language-learning as a memory game. This is similar to Duolingo which also strongly aids the memorisation of vocabulary; so much so that it would take only “an average of 34 hours [on Duolingo] to cover the material for the first college semester of Spanish”. ( Vesselinov, Grego [PhD], 2012) [4] Thus, I conclude that Artificial Intelligence can help students vastly in their education as I opine that their patience, knowledge, strict implementation and repetition of teaching-techniques can be very beneficial, especially for primary school students who may be more difficult to teach, as they are robust, entertaining and intriguing - as Elias serves as an attestation for. I also believe that these qualities contribute greatly to the education of higher-level students, particularly with pure memorisation; as illustrated by both Memrise and Duolingo, respectively.

References: [1] "The Age of Artificial Intelligence: An ... - Vernon Press." https://vernonpress.com/book/935. Accessed 19 Jan. 2020.

[2] "Will Robots Ever Have Emotions? | Psychology Today UK." 14 Dec. 2017, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/hot-thought/201712/will-robots-ever-have-emotions. Accessed 19 Jan. 2020.

[3] "Education inspection framework for September 2019." https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/801430/Education_inspection_framework.docx. Accessed 19 Jan. 2020.

[4] "Duolingo Effectiveness Study." http://static.duolingo.com/s3/DuolingoReport_Final.pdf

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BOOK FINDER ELDON CRAVEN, REMOVE FORM I want to design a piece of Artificial Intelligence that takes in a small paragraph from the user stating what type of genres they like, and then it go through the books in the library on a database and filter out the books that would suit the interests of the user. The reason I want to create this is that I myself had problems growing up trying to find a book I liked, and that meant I didn’t read as much.

This is a problem because reading is so important in life because you read every day of your life, so it is important to practice this skill. Also, it improves your vocabulary and knowledge massively which is another bonus. This idea is quite simple but it is useful for educational purposes and it can be used in many libraries and schools around the world to help young readers. The way the filtering is going to work is by using big data in the book database, able to identify action, adventure, romance, and drama and other genres. Then the books in each of the genres will be split up into the different reading ages, which you can identify by taking a basic 20-minute test. The way the Artificial Intelligence decides which genre you like is through the use of key words. For example, if the user identified ‘combat’ and their reading age was 15, it would output action books suitable for people with the reading age of 15.

I believe this could be very useful to schools and readers when used for educational purposes. This is why I am putting my idea forward and participating in this journal.

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HOW MIGHT THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES HELP YOU IN YOUR EDUCATION? CALLUM WARD, REMOVE FORM Artificial Intelligence is human intelligence demonstrated by machines. This is usually associated with machines being able to learn for themselves and tailor responses. AI is developing rapidly in the learning world and could benefit education in many ways, including testing, revision and helping teachers.

One major way I believe Artificial Intelligence can help my learning is through testing in revision. Testing is an extremely beneficial source of revision as it highlights what you don't know and covers all areas of your course. AI would further enhance this revision technique as it would learn a student's weak points and tailor practice questions for them to cover the areas they have forgotten. According to Professor John Dunlovsky from Kent State University, the only two truly effective revision techniques were spreading your revision out and testing. Artificial Intelligence could help bolster both by learning a student's personal best times to start and finish revision and to learn what they seem to have forgotten and tested them on their shortcomings for the exam.

Another way Artificial Intelligence would help students is by setting reasonable targets. Students usually face one of two problems when setting targets: setting too easy targets that they accomplish instantly or too hard targets that they will never achieve. AI could fix this problem as it would learn a student's skill level and set the perfect balance of challenging yet achievable targets. Also, AI would be able to track the progress of your target and

make sure you are on route to completing your goal. AI would act as a planner individually for each student and be able to guide them to succeed in their targets and exams.

Finally, AI wouldn't just benefit the learners in education but also the teachers. Helping mark, keep track of students and finding out the most effective way for each individual to learn. AI would be able to act as a teaching assistant of sorts allowing the teachers to spend more time individually with each student bolstering their learning.

According to the National Education System, the biggest effect of overcrowding in school is stress on the teachers. With more students, teachers have less time to mark properly, meet with parents and prepare lessons properly. AI could solve this problem in so many ways; help mark homework, so teachers have more time, identify student's weak spots to discuss with teachers and help prepare lesson plans best suited for students. In conclusion, Artificial Intelligence would greatly help both students and teachers in education. It would help students with useful revision constantly at the right times. It would also set appropriate achievements for students creating more ambition and determination in students. Lastly, it would benefit teachers greatly. Allowing them to mark quicker and focus more on their students learning needs. Ultimately, AI would only benefit the education world and rightfully deserves to be integrated into schools globally.

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HOW MIGHT THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES HELP YOU IN YOUR EDUCATION? RAHUL THAKRAR, FOURTH FORM Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the use of computer technology to carry out tasks which normally require human intelligence. These may include roles such as: decision-making, administrative work and speech recognition. The potential that AI has, in education, is therefore vast; both the direct and indirect impacts of AI on student education will be discussed further below.

Firstly, AI can help to manage the normal workload of teachers. This supplementation would not replace the role that teachers have, but enhance it. By completing administrative tasks such as marking, teachers can focus their creative energy on teaching the contents of the subject. Students would benefit from this attention to detail and the tutor’s passion for the subject area can be highlighted.

AI provides students with additional support within and outside of school- although the role of teachers is still imperative, AI can support students with the fundamentals to solidify their knowledge foundation at home or even in study periods. For example, if a lesson was taught on the subject of algebraic equations, AI can be used to refresh the basic knowledge, before the students move onto completing more difficult tasks in class.

Feedback from students regarding their progress is vital for both them and their teachers; AI can be utilised to provide this feedback. Data can then be collated, and tutors can tailor their lessons accordingly. Whether a lesson was well structured

or not, to whether students understood certain concepts more than others, are amongst the reasons as to why feedback is so important. Online study programmes can also help with this; completing assessments allows grading to occur quicker and therefore, teachers have access to weaker areas for specific focus.

Additionally, AI can tailor students’ education directly too; already AI gathers information online, for internet users, depending on recent searches or purchases. Now, AI would be able to act similarly within the education field. If an online assessment highlights an area of weakness for a student, AI can gather more information relevant to that topic, following which, the student may be assessed again. This method is ideal for trial-and-error learning, making it far less intimidating compared to when this teaching method is carries out in the classroom. It will allow students to feel comfortable whilst progressively confident in each subject.

Overall, AI provides many opportunities for enhancement in education. Indirectly, AI can alleviate some of the pressure that teachers have daily, to aid them in presenting a tailored lesson.

Complementing this, students will also benefit from AI both in the classroom and in the comfort of their home. AI provides an alternative platform of study meaning that students would have a continual interest in their own study and progress.

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HOW MIGHT THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES HELP YOU IN YOUR EDUCATION? KEVIN XU, FOURTH FORM While the debate of whether we should use Artificial Intelligence in education continues, it truly is an emerging technology that in the future we can consider. It is expected that Artificial Intelligence in U.S. education will grow by 47.5% from 2017-2021 according to the Artificial Intelligence Market in the US Education Sector report. Even though most of the experts believe the critical presence of teachers is irreplaceable, there will be many changes to our education in the future.

Teacher and AI collaboration AI has already been applied in some ways in our education, such as developing our testing systems. As AI education solutions come to mature, we can hope that AI can fill the gaps on learning and teaching and allow schools and teachers to do more ever than before. AI can give you efficiency, personalization and streamline tasks to allow teachers the time and freedom to provide understanding and adaptability- but these are uniquely human capabilities where machines would struggle. Since the students of today will need to work in a future where AI is the reality, it is important that our educational institutions expose students

to and use the technology.

Tutoring and support outside the classroom Not every parent is omniscient, so they might struggle on math questions such as algebra and other concepts, and this is where AI could help.

Tutoring and studying programs are becoming more advanced thanks to Artificial Intelligence, and soon they will be more available and able to respond to the education field.

Differentiated and individualized learning Adjusting learning based on an individual student’s particular needs has been a priority for educators for years, but AI will allow a level of differentiation that is is impossible for teachers who have to manage 30 students in each class or even more.

Different students might have different abilities with study, so AI can adjust the difficulty on every subject on the students, while teachers might struggle on to.

As education is a long term experience, we cannot expect it to become perfect in one day.

But with the help of Artificial Intelligence, we can make this dream become closer.

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HOW MIGHT THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES HELP YOU IN YOUR EDUCATION? RAHUL THAKRAR, FOURTH FORM Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the use of computer technology to carry out tasks which normally require human intelligence. These may include roles such as: decision-making, administrative work and speech recognition. The potential that AI has, in education, is therefore vast; both the direct and indirect impacts of AI on student education will be discussed further below.

Firstly, AI can help to manage the normal workload of teachers. This supplementation would not replace the role that teachers have, but enhance it. By completing administrative tasks such as marking, teachers can focus their creative energy on teaching the contents of the subject. Students would benefit from this attention to detail and the tutor’s passion for the subject area can be highlighted.

AI provides students with additional support within and outside of school- although the role of teachers is still imperative, AI can support students with the fundamentals to solidify their knowledge foundation at home or even in study periods. For example, if a lesson was taught on the subject of algebraic equations, AI can be used to refresh the basic knowledge, before the students move onto completing more difficult tasks in class.

Feedback from students regarding their progress is vital for both them and their teachers; AI can be utilised to provide this feedback. Data can then be collated, and tutors can tailor their lessons

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accordingly. Whether a lesson was well structured or not, to whether students understood certain concepts more than others, are amongst the reasons as to why feedback is so important. Online study programmes can also help with this; completing assessments allows grading to occur quicker and therefore, teachers have access to weaker areas for specific focus.

Additionally, AI can tailor students’ education directly too; already AI gathers information online, for internet users, depending on recent searches or purchases. Now, AI would be able to act similarly within the education field. If an online assessment highlights an area of weakness for a student, AI can gather more information relevant to that topic, following which, the student may be assessed again. This method is ideal for trial-and-error learning, making it far less intimidating compared to when this teaching method is carries out in the classroom. It will allow students to feel comfortable whilst progressively confident in each subject.

Overall, AI provides many opportunities for enhancement in education. Indirectly, AI can alleviate some of the pressure that teachers have daily, to aid them in presenting a tailored lesson.

Complementing this, students will also benefit from AI both in the classroom and in the comfort of their home. AI provides an alternative platform of study meaning that students would have a continual interest in their own study and progress.

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